I made homemade white guage faces for my 89 RS. I simply recorded where the needles were before I removed them. I just got off the phone with Ryan MacEwen because I ordered some bulbs for my cluster.. After talking with him he said my guages are going to be off because the wire does move some what either way when you remove the needle.... I also made the mistake of painting the guages with testers model paint. I wasn't thinking because that paint is going to add weight also and throw off the balance of the needles... Whats my next step? If I go to a speedo shop to get the cluster guages re-balanced I am gonna get charged up the ***.... Any suggestions?

To get the paint off you might be able to use fingernail polish remover. As far as the speedo needle going back on in the right spot, here is what I did. With the gages back in but the clear coverplate off I gently put the speedo needle on the shaft to see where it fell to. There should be equal distance from the 5mph to the 0mph as there is from the needle to the 0mph. I got it to "fall" the right distance on the 4th or 5th try. Then there happened to be one of those Police speed check trailers on a road near me that displays the speed you are going, It was spot on. This is what I did and I hope that it works for you. If you need anything else, let me know.

Mark

Paint isn't gonna effect your calibration any. You're speedo might be off an notch or two.

I disagree. I have done plently of model building in my time and as lite as those needles are, if the paint wasn't thinned down it ( the needle) could have added plenty of weight to the needle, which upon installation would weigh it down quite a bit. Just my opinion.

Mark

Gotta disagree, I painted my needles and used software to re-calibrate mine and they are all perfect, and kep excellent clibration.

Mine is an 86 and it is mechanical so I guess it would be a different situation. Sorry to hear about your car.

Mark

Thanks for the Help Wiggy.. I am going to get one of those
TRI art markers from Ryan and use that on the needles instead. Should be fun trying to get the testers paint off... I still would like all my guages exact and I don't think your method would work on the other guages....

un4givin89 I read something on your site about a calibration program. I don't understand how it works or how you use it and with what?? Please explain the details because if I can do this I will save money... Do you need a laptop for it??

Thanks!

Mine came out right (except the speedo) first shot. I took digital pictures of the gages on the work table and never moved them thru the whole process until the needles went back on and everything still works the way it did before. As far as un4given's recalibration program, you do need a laptop. Past that, I haven't the foggiest because I am not very computer savvy. Sorry I couldn't help you more.

Mark

to calibrate your speedo...hmm

Well to tell you the truth I have heard some really strange Ideas. What will work for anyone that has a speedo that is just off, and is not restricted by some mechanical problem, this is what you do.

go down the express way, and those little markers on the side of the highway are there for a reason, and are subposed to be EXTREEMELY accurate. drive exactly 60 mph for a mile, and have a friend time you. you cannot waiver from 60 or this will not work. It should take exactly 60 seconds. If you live in Canada or some other KM based country, 60 KMPH should be the same.

If your time is less than 60 seconds, then your going too fast, and the speedo needt to be advanced. If you are greater than 60 seconds then your going too slow and retard the speedo.

Once you get 60 seconds, time it for say 5 or so miles, and see how many seconds it takes.

I talked to a cop about this, and he told me that the mile markers are subposed to be perfectly 1 mile apart.

Of course if you go around lots of bends, the measurement should be from the middle of the highway. so drive in the center lane.

(NOTE) do NOT do this during rush hour...

John